The Mist Season 1 Hits Netflix This Month

The Mist season 1 hits Netflix later this month. That’s a lot faster than most series’ latest seasons arrive on the streaming service, often not arriving until shortly before the next season begins airing on TV. Debuting back in late June on Spike TV, The Mist is a loose adaptation of the celebrated Stephen King short story of the same name that served as the headlining tale in the author’s 1985 anthology collection Skeleton Crew.

While the premise of a small Maine town being suddenly blanketed by the titular mist is retained from King’s prose, the actual characters and sub-plots are brand new, created originally for the series. In what ended up being a big sticking point for King diehards, this included the changing of what was actually residing within the mist. In the book, the mist contains tentacled, Lovecraftian monsters that literally consume the town’s residents. In the show, the mist’s terrors are of a more psychological variety in general, one assumes likely due to the limitations of a TV budget.

Now, Bloody Disgusting reports that The Mist’s entire 10-episode season 1 is set to hit Netflix streaming on August 25. That’s a mere day after the season finale airs on Spike TV. Talk about a quick turnaround. It remains to be seen whether a second season is forthcoming, as Spike has yet to announce a decision on that front. The ratings have been decent enough for basic cable, but not great. A good chunk of the horror fan community seems to be enjoying it well enough though.

Critic wise, The Mist TV series has earned mixed reviews at best, which stands in stark contrast to the story’s first adaptation. Back in 2007, director – and frequent King collaborator – Frank Darabont helmed a theatrical adaptation of The Mist, which stuck pretty closely to the book, outside of an incredibly depressing altered ending that still divides fans to this day. Critics mostly dug the film though, and lots of people hold it up as one of the better King movie adaptations. For his part, King himself loved the changed ending.

The Mist is but one entry in a current uptick in King-based TV series, with DirecTV’s Audience Network recently debuting a show based on Mr. Mercedes, which has done a lot better critically. Hulu also has Castle Rock on their upcoming slate, and – at least for now – a companion TV series to Sony’s recently-released Dark Tower movie is in the planning stages, with Idris Elba set to return.